Quintilian Quotes

By writing quickly we are not brought to write well, but by writing well we are brought to write quickly.

From writing rapidly it does not result that one writes well, but from writing well it results that one writes rapidly.

A.J. Liebling, one of my heroes, used to say that he could write better than anyone who wrote faster, and faster than anyone who could write better. I'm one nine-hundredth as good as Liebling, but that principle may slightly apply.

As a rule, one must write a great many words before one learns to write well.

I don't write quickly, and I don't want to.

Write for yourself, not for a perceived audience. If you do, you'll mostly fall flat on your face, because it's impossible to judge what people want. And you have to read. That's how you learn what is good writing and what is bad. Then the main thing is application. It's hard work.

Writing is one of the few activities where quantity will inevitably make quality. The more you write, the better you're going to get at it.

No time you spend writing will be wasted - even if you write something that's bad.

I learned to write by writing.

There is no pleasure in the world like writing well and going fast.

By writing much, one learns to write well.

Doing interesting things and then writing about them is the best way to become a good writer.

Writing is a workout, just like going for a run!

I think there's a general misconception that anything written quickly lacks quality, and I don't believe that.

Because you can't write habitually and well all the time, you have to be willing to write badly. That's how you get the regularity that enables you to be present for the good stuff.

I've never been a fast writer.

Give me good writing, and I'll play it all day.

I'm not the fastest writer. I can't just crank out ideas that are good enough.

I can write better than anybody who can write faster, and I can write faster than anybody who can write better.

There is no way of writing well and also of writing easily.

You become a better writer by writing. You become a better travel writer by writing about travel.

Anybody could write a bad script, and I'm one of them, you know?

I've tried writing on a computer thinking it would make me more efficient, but if you're writing crummy stuff, being efficient is no help.

Part of being a writer is just getting it in your bones, getting the muscle memory down, just doing it.

To develop your own voice, you have to keep writing a ton, and this is something where I think Twitter is helpful. I use it to write a ton of jokes. You have to write a ton of bad stuff before you know what you're good at. And that's what some people I think have trouble with, the thought of getting past the bad stuff.